JPPI’s 2017 Structured Jewish World Dialogue
Jerusalem and the Jewish People: Unity and Division
Project Heads: Shmuel Rosner and John Ruskay
Contributors: Noah Slepkov and Chaya Ekstein
Editors: Rami Tal and Barry Geltman
JPPI’s 2017 Dialogue was conducted under the wider umbrella of its Pluralism and Democracy project, which is supported by the William Davidson Foundation. The Dialogue process, an unmediated study of Jewish public positions highly relevant to the Jewish world, comprised 45 discussion groups in Jewish communities around the world.
The Dialogue took place between January and April of 2017 in dozens of Jewish gatherings worldwide. Participants were asked to read a short background paper and attend a 90-120-minute discussion seminar which included:
- A short presentation about Jerusalem’s current situation.
- A survey that all participants were asked to answer, from which JPPI derived data on how participants think about the various questions presented to them.
- A structured and moderated discussion on the future of Jerusalem.
Participants were presented with certain challenges and were asked to respond to them, and in so doing clarify their nuanced positions on Jerusalem’s current image, Jerusalem’s political future, Jerusalem’s culture and Jewish character, and the role of world Jewry in crafting its future. The Chatham House Rule applied to JPPI’s discussions, i.e., participants would be quoted without specific attribution. This was meant to ensure open and frank exchanges. Participant names are listed in the appendix.
In addition to the information JPPI gathered at community discussion seminars, available relevant research was analyzed. This year we also relied on a broad JPPI survey of Jewish public opinion in Israel conducted in March 2017.[1]
JPPI’s 2017 Israel-Diaspora Structured Dialogue is the fourth in an ongoing series. Previous dialogues included: Exploring the Jewish Spectrum in a Time of Fluid Identity (2016)[2]; Jewish Values and Israel’s Use of Force in Armed Conflict (2015)[3]; and Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State (2014)[4].
[1] The survey, conducted by Menachem Lazar of Panels Politics, is a scientific sample of Israel’s citizens. It was conducted and the findings were based on a relatively large sample of 1,300 respondents, with a 5.6% margin of error for Arabs and 3.1% for Jews. More details on the survey here: http://jppi.org.il/new/en/article/english-2017-pluralism-index-survey-results/.
[2] Shmuel Rosner and John Ruskay. The report based on this Dialogue can be read here: http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Exploring_the_Jewish_Spectrum_in_a_Time_of_Fluid_Identity-JPPI.pdf
[3] Shmuel Rosner and Michael Herzog. The full report is here: http://jppi.org.il/news/175/58/Jewish-Values-and-Israel-s-Use-of-Force-in-Armed-Conflict–Perspectives-from-World-Jewry/
[4] Shmuel Rosner and Avi Gil. The full report is here: http://jppi.org.il/news/157/58/Jewish-and-Democratic-The-Full-Report/